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Rachel, Miles, Monroe and Connor return to Willoughby to find the town in the throes of a typhus epidemic. Gene gets sick while treating patients, and Rachel discovers that the typhus is man-made and the patriots are deliberately infecting the town's undesirables. So they kidnap Ed and infect him with typhus, forcing him to reveal the location of the cure.
In Washington, Tom and Julia Neville plot to rescue Jason from the prison where he was sent for breaking into Victor's office. But their plan to force Victor to free Jason goes awry when Julia doesn't notice her husband is having her followed everywhere.
In Oklahoma, Grace abandons Aaron and Priscilla because this nanite shit is above her pay grade. Aaron gets a visit from a nanite incarnation of Cynthia, who tells him to go to Lubbock, Texas. Priscilla doesn't want to go, but after the nanites try to drop a tree on her, she reluctantly agrees.
And Monroe scowls a lot and looks hot with that beard.
Want more? The full recap starts right below!Previously on Revolution: Aaron walked to Oklahoma and met up with Grace and his ex-wife Priscilla who, like Aaron, hears voices and sees fireflies. Rachel, Miles, and Monroe went to Mexico to fetch Li'l Sebastian and almost got themselves killed by the cartel for their trouble. Jason Neville did something stupid, because he is stupid. And Charlie and Reverend Dr. Gene did something equally stupid, because they are also so, so stupid.
Willoughby. Rachel, Miles, Monroe, and Connor find the basement where Charlie and Gene were hiding out empty. Connor snarks that life was nicer in Mexico. It was, wasn't it? Our valiant, sepia-toned heroes immediately find the quarantine camp and spy from the same ridge Charlie and Gene used. They see Gene talking to Ed and Monroe dryly observes that it didn't take Rachel's dad long to go back to the patriots. They notice that everyone in the camp is wearing surgical masks, and Rachel speculates that there's been an outbreak. Connor can't believe his lousy mass-murdering father brought him to this pestilential shithole.
A wagon gallops up and Charlie and Gene help unload a patient and bring him into the medical tent, which has a lot more than four patients in it now. The man seizes and Gene tells Charlie to get the manual respirator. They do various rustic medical things, but the man dies. Probably because Charlie's abundant, free-flowing hair suffocated him.
Gene storms out of the tent and confronts Ed about where the drugs he needs are. "I can't exactly FedEx it, Gene," Ed snaps. Gene yells that a dozen people have already died, and Ed emotes damply that he has sick men in there, too. Regardless of his differences with Gene, he knows they both want the best for the town.
Rachel and the others watch from their cliff and bicker among themselves about what they should do since they can't exactly stroll into town, what with Monroe having been executed by these very people quite recently. Miles wants to send Connor, since no one knows his face, but Connor, quite smartly, is like, no thanks on the death plague? Rachel insists on going, since it's her father and her daughter down there. Nice that she remembers she has a daughter now.
Rachel assimilates into a group approaching the camp, pulling her bandanna up over her face. The boys watch from the ridge -- Miles approvingly, Connor shaking his head at her insanity. Gene is thrilled to see Rachel, while Charlie's face says she might prefer her mom to stay far away from the rampant sickness. Rachel asks where Aaron is, but before Gene or Charlie can respond, Ed interrupts them and asks where she's been, where Miles is, how she gets her hair to look so effortlessly tousled and not at all greasy in the absence of things like showers and hairdryers and stylists. You know, the things we're all wondering.
Gene tells Ed he needs Rachel's help to stop the epidemic (because…her blood is made of antibiotics?) and Ed reluctantly agrees to put off interrogating Rachel until after she saves the day.
Washington. Julia Neville looks out over a pretty crappy reconstruction of the Reflecting Pool. Tom joins her and says Victor is definitely the one who had Jason arrested for breaking into his office. He doesn't know where they're holding Jason. Tom's concerned that Jason will break under interrogation and spill all the details of their various nefarious plots, but Julia doesn't care, she just wants to save Jason, no matter the cost.
Flashback: two years after the blackout. Little kid Jason is starving to death, and Tom swears he'll find food. Julia just cries and pets Jason's head. Tom comes across a camp where two men are roasting meat over a fire. He pleads with the people to share their food with his starving son, then pulls out his knife when the man refuses. But he's not the fighting machine Tom Neville we know today; he gets a pretty nasty beating.
Willoughby. Rachel tells Gene the patients aren't reacting the way they should if they have typhus; he says it doesn't spread like typhus, either. (Although typhus is spread by fleas and lice. It seems like this world would have plenty of those.) But he doesn't have time to do research on the disease; people are dying too quickly. And it reminds him of how Rachel's mother died. She swears they'll figure it out.
Spring City. Aaron goes looking for Grace and finds a note; she's abandoned them. He hears a voice behind him and turns -- it's Cynthia. He weepily tells the nanites they can do what they want to him, but they don't get to look like her. She continues, unfazed, talking about Lubbock, Texas, and he asks why the nanotech let Cynthia die. She says the answers are in Lubbock, and if he doesn't go there, he and Priscilla will both be in danger. She refuses to elaborate, and vanishes when Priscilla finds Aaron talking to himself.
Willoughby. Charlie sneaks into the morgue tent and draws some blood from a recently deceased Willoughbean. She hands the syringe to her mother and Rachel starts burning things and mixing things. She looks at the blood through a microscope and then gets that thousand-yard stare of "Oh shit, something terrible is happening." She finds Gene and tells him she thinks this is typhus was created in a lab. She thinks the patriots started the outbreak.
Gene doesn't want to believe Ed would wipe out the town, but Rachel just shrugs. She's sure the patriots have a cure, or else they wouldn't risk their own people. Gene has an idea of where they might keep that cure, but since they're being watched, they can't get to it. Rachel sends a message to Miles.
In the barn, Connor is firmly against the suicide mission of raiding the patriot bunker to look for medication that might not be there. Miles is all, desperate case. Connor protests that he watched bubonic plague sweep through his town in Mexico, and doesn't care for a repeat of that experience. So why don't they just leave Connor behind in the barn? Monroe pulls his ornery son aside, away from Miles, and argues that they need to keep Miles on their side, or else the republic can't rise again. And keeping Miles means doing what Rachel asks. Connor reluctantly agrees.
Washington. Julia sits pensively on her bed as Victor reminds her of some lunch date for the day. She tells him she's having nightmares because of the break-in and she'd feel safer if she knew the burglar had been caught. It's a good thing she's facing away from him, because she actually can't make her face move as she says those lines. She pleads with him, asking if the burglar is dead, and he breaks his secrecy to say they're questioning him. She fishes for where he's imprisoned, just to know that he's not getting out, but Victor refuses to tell her as he starts sucking on her neck.
Flashback. Julia and Tom sit by the campfire while she dabs at his wounds and he chastises himself for not doing better at keeping their son fed. And this is where Julia's Lady Macbeth is born: she says there are plenty of men out there who are stronger than Tom, but smart beats strong. So they'll have to be the smartest.
Back in Washington, Julia lies awake to Victor, then gets up, lights a candle, and starts riffling through the papers in his office. She finds Jason's name on a list.
Willoughby. Miles jimmies open a door in the wall surrounding the town and he, Monroe, and Connor slip in. Patriot soldiers are burning plague-ridden clothes here, too. They bypass the bonfire and head for patriot HQ, which has been completely emptied out. Connor is not impressed with Dr. Gene's big idea.
In the quarantine camp, another patient arrives. While Gene and Charlie work on the woman, Rachel goes into one of her fugue states and just wanders around, staring crazily. Later, in another tent, she tells them she thinks the patriots are targeting certain people. The virus isn't spreading like typhus should because it's not communicable—the patriots are deliberately sickening individuals. (And again, that would be more convincing if the disease was typhoid. Not typhus.) She runs through the patients they have right now: an alcoholic, an epileptic, a man with bipolar disorder. The patriots are cleansing the population.
In the wake of that revelation, Gene suddenly keels over, coughing.
NBC follows it up with a commercial for medication for bipolar depression. Uh, good timing?
Rachel picks up a message from Miles under the rock they've designated, then goes back to the tent where Gene is still hacking up one of his lungs. He gives instructions to an anonymous helper while Charlie makes a pouty face at him and asks how the patriots infected him. Fleas! They showered him with fleas! Ed shows up just then to offer his condolences on Gene's sudden illness. He's sure Gene will recover. Rachel stalks past Ed, into the tent, and tells Gene about Miles's message about the nonexistent drugs. Gene has another plan.
At the Reflecting Pool, Julia tells Tom that Jason is in Kenilworth Prison. Which will be hard for Tom to get into…although Victor could just stroll in. She says she and Victor are having lunch with a Colonel Henderson and his wife the day. She wants Tom to murder the colonel and his wife and then convince Victor to free Jason. He says this will definitely blow their cover, but again, her only goal is getting Jason out alive.
Flashback. Julia sneaks through the woods toward that camp Tom found earlier. She calls out to the two men who beat up Tom, then says she hasn't eaten in two days. The men say they have plenty of food, but want to know what she's willing to trade. Julia unbuttons her shirt. The first man follows her into their tent and the other sits down to watch. Tom jumps out of the woods and slits the man's throat, then picks up a shotgun. He pushes the tent flap aside and shoots the man with Julia. They stare at each other – half of her face is covered in blood, but they're both impressed with the other's ruthlessness.
Ed pours himself a cup of coffee, then puts it down when he sees Rachel pass the tent. He follows her; she stops just short of where Miles left the message. Ed thinks this is a great time for her to tell him where Miles is. Sadly for Ed, Miles is right behind him, and he punches Ed bunnies while Monroe chokes out Ed's pal.
Aaron chases Priscilla through the woods while she swears she's not going to Lubbock. (Because even Samuel Beckett thinks endlessly walking back and forth between Texas and Oklahoma is the definition of hell.) He believes in the danger the nanites told him about, while Priscilla says she's not afraid. He pleads with her to come with him, but she refuses and walks away. But before she gets five steps, a firefly pops up in front of her face and a fucking tree fall. If Aaron didn't pull her back, it would have crushed her. Aaron's like, soooo…Lubbock?
Miles pulls a bag off Ed's head; Ed, who's tied to a chair, blinks, then focuses on the first person he sees -- Monroe. "Not so easy to kill, am I?" he smirks. Miles says Ed infected Gene and asks where the antidote is. Ed pleads that Gene got sick trying to help people, and if he dies, he'll die a hero. Miles is all, I'M BORED, ENTERTAIN ME. He shows Ed a syringe full of fresh-squeezed typhus and then plunges it into Ed's neck. He asks again where the vaccine is. Monroe's watching all this, vaguely amused. Ed tries to psych them out, saying he's sure if he tells them where the antidote is they'll kill him and keep it for themselves. Monroe agrees that yeah, that is pretty much the plan.
In the quarantine camp, Gene hacks and moans, then rambles deathly about the poetry of his impending doom, since his wife was infected while nursing sick kids with cholera even though Gene told her to keep her distance from them. He just wants to see his wife again, but Charlie and Rachel both holler at him about how he doesn't get to rest yet.
Neville finds the back door of Colonel Henderson's house unlocked, just as Julia told him it would be. To the ominous strains of Beethoven, he stalks through the kitchen...and in the dining room finds Victor with his gun pointed at Julia's head. Along with like nine other armed men, all ready to shoot Neville. So I guess Victor didn't get to his lofty spot in the administration just by being a fun guy to have around.
Victor tells Neville to put the gun down or he'll kill Julia (who he now knows is Neville's wife). Neville tries to bluff, but Victor just chuckles about what big brass balls he has. And then, cruelly, he says Jason never talked while he was being interrogated. As compared to his clumsy parents, who blew their cover by making starry eyes at each other across rooms all the time. Victor says he obviously had a tail on Julia. She grits, "Give me back my son." Victor asks why she thinks Jason is still alive, and then says he really loved Julia. Tom asks what happens now, and Victor says they'll just have some conversations. I bet that'll be super thrilling. And Tom and Julia will never see each other again. The soldiers drag them off.
Connor buttons up his patriot uniform and swears he won't screw up. He marches Ed, at gunpoint, into the woods.
Gene wakes up from a doze, trying to cough up his liver. He starts seizing.
Connor and Ed stroll through Willoughby and into Ed's office. None of the soldiers seem to think it's odd that their boss is with a guy they've never seen before. Ed unlocks his safe, and then Connor forces him away from the safe. He pulls out a handgun, then finds the vials of vaccine in the back of the safe. He says he'll let Ed have it after he gets him safely out of town. Just then, Ed's men burst through the office door.
time: Charlie and Connor go to New Vegas. Monroe returns to topless fighting. Priscilla and Aaron become faith healers. Rachel and Miles bang. And Neville makes it out of Washington alive.